The Continuing Adventure of Ronja
by Birk Borkason
Summary: The second summer of Ronja and Birk. Mostly fluff at the start. Serious adventure in the end.
1. The First Day

**The First Day**

The day started out unseasonably warm as Birk laid near a dying campfire watching the mountains to the east of the Bear Cave. Just as the sun cracked over the mountains, the first light shone through Birk's bare feet, making it appear as if his feet were on fire.

Birk chuckled a bit and wiggled his toes as he watched the morning light ray filter through his toes. A lone white butterfly landed on one of his toe, which lead Birk to wiggle it some more to try and shoo away the butterfly.

"Well... First day here and already you're practically naked!" the female voice came from behind Birk. He craned to see his sister Ronja standing there with a slight scowl on her face.

"So sayeth my dearest sister who is also in a state of undress." Like Birk, Ronja is wearing only her undergarment. Then both giggled a bit. When Birk looked back to the morning sun, it had gone a bit higher and by now, the annoying white butterfly appeared to be on fire.

"It wasn't long ago that you had to be forced to undress so we could wash your clothes."

Birk winced and got upright, covered his head with his hand. "Don't remind me. My head still hurts."

~ Flaskback ~

_A crowd of 22 men (Joen was not present as he was watching the fort's gate) plus Birk and Ronja were all around the table, just finishing up their breakfast when Lovis came up. She instructed Ronja to go outside and get the tub ready._

_At the mention of the tub, the boisterous party died down quickly. Undis came up beside Lovis and gave the men the look._

"_It can't be already?" one complained._

"_We'd die if we went!" another whined._

"_Please have mercy!" and other assortment of pleading and excuses to not have a bath at all._

"_Your dirty clothes beside the door on your way to your bath, and make it fast." Lovis wasn't about to put up with any delay or stall this time, she just crossed her arms and said "Three..."_

_Most of the men ran out, clothes flying around._

"_Two!"_

_All the remaining men left. The only one who didn't move was Birk. Undis said "You too, little man!"_

"_One... if you don't want to be scrubbed like a baby, go now!" She was looking very serious and from what Ronja told him, he realized he better move. Boots and blue tunic went flying and he was hopping on one leg trying to get his pants off as he rounded through the open door._

_There was a loud crack as he and Ronja collided into each other very hard. She cried out in pain and covered her wounded forehead. "I'm sorry! I promise to make it up sometime!" Birk yelled as he finally shed the last piece of his cloth and ran to join the men's bath outside the fort._

_She only saw his backside as she got up, still rubbing her head. She stepped inside to see both Undis and Lovis picking up the scattered clothes. "Was that...?" she was about to ask if that was Birk when she saw his blue tunic on top of the pile._

~end flashback~

"And you still owe me" she reminded him. He nodded and then laid back down to watch the sun. The annoying butterfly had finally flown away.

She said next to Birk to enjoy the morning sun and told him "Just stay with me. I like having my brother with me to share the adventure." Birk smiled and she continued "And make me another wooden horse, the one you made last year is a little lonely."

Easy enough for Birk. "Yes, sister. I can stay by you and make you another one. First we need to gather firewood. I don't like how it's so warm so early for spring time. I think a big storm may be coming, one that will bring cold wind."

She nodded in agreement and handed him a slice of the bread.


	2. The Storm

**The Storm**

Another morning had arrived and once again bought unseasonably warm weather as the pair walked to the stream. Having spent the previous day gathering wood and other basic supplies, now they needed to find food sources.

"What for be they doing that?" tiny little voices got the pair's attention. "Whyyyyy they be doing that?"

"Romphobs!" Ronja exclaimed and pointed toward a small group of little strange creatures as it was walking among the bushes. "That means there is no danger nearby!" She then grabbed Birk's hand and dragged him along doing a spring frolic and giggled a bit.

They reached the stream in no time and both laid the net across to catch fish. "I'll be glad when we can gather berries and mushrooms. I can only stand eating fish for so long." Then both giggled.

"Maybe I can try hunting for animal such as rabbit or deer" Birk suggested. Before he could even get out of the stream, the net started shaking and a fish had been caught in already. Not a large fish but one that would last them a few days or so. "Oh-ho! Already?" He pulled up the fish by its tail and smiled at Ronja.

After taking care of the fish at the bear cave, the duo headed toward a nearby lake to enjoy the scenery. Birk got on top of the large rock first, Ronja joined him a bit later as she had to stop for a quick business.

Both sat cross legged on the rock, facing the lake and listening to the spring song such as birds and frogs. They were also talking about summer plans, all of the things they would need to do. Eventually they ended up talking about past memories and jokes they heard. Also they pointed at the occasional animal who visited the lake for a drink such as a moose and few birds returning from their winter migration.

They were so deep in conversation that Birk failed to notice an evil glint in his sister's eye. He never saw her hand fly toward his back and it was only after that he started rolling off the rock he realized something happened.

He landed in the ice cold water with a splash. He quickly came up for air, gasped loudly, and yelled "IT'S COLD!"

Ronja was laughing at his shocked face. "Your reaction looked so funny!" she was still laughing hard and tears had started running from her eyes.

A nearby "Whyyyyy" from the bush caused Ronja to really break down into fit of hysterics.

She never saw him get out of the water, climbed up the rock, or get behind her. It was only that she regretted not keeping her eyes open after she heard him whisper closely "Sorry, sister," or felt his hands on her back which sent her tumbling down to the water.

She shrieked as she landed into the water and came up gasping. Right at that moment, he jumped in and landed next to her in the lake. "Now we're even!"

She scowled at him for a moment before they both broke into laughter. Ah to be young and wild with no rules.

After their brief swim in the lake, they stripped down to their undergarments, their tunics and pants were hung on nearby tree branches and they laid on their back soaking up the warmth of the sun to dry out.

* * *

Some time had passed and Birk became aware of a few things. One, he had no idea how much time had passed as he fell asleep relaxing in the sun. Second, he felt some weight on his chest and his left arm felt numb like he slept poorly. He opened his eye to see messy, tangled dark hair on his chest. Sometime while he slept, Ronja had moved over his arm and used his chest as a pillow.

He would have kept quiet except he also saw the sun had gone into hiding, there's very little of the blue sky left. The wind had started to pick up and it was a bit cooler. With his right hand still free, he tousled her hair. "Ronja, wake up. We need to go soon."

She stirred a bit and then gasped and got up quickly. "So sorry! I didn't mean to sleep on you."

"It's OK, my dearest sister. You looked like a cute puppy cuddling with me." She scowled at him a bit for the remark before both broke out in fits of giggle. He continued after he was done giggling "The cloud has come and it's starting to get cooler. Storm may be here soon."

Both got up, grabbed their now-dry clothes and put them on before they walked back to the cave. A little sprinkle started coming down

They reached the cave in no time, they moved into cave the leftover fish, checked the wood pile stock, and added some wood to the fire. The sprinkle turned into rain and started coming down even more. Also it had gotten much cooler, thus the pair just sat near the fire. "Be nice if the weather blows through quickly."

They started munching on bread, some of the fish, and finished the milk as they watched the rain fall and the tree swaying with the wind. They did have the foresight to pack winter coats as it was needed eventually. Shivering in the cold morning was one of the few things neither enjoyed the previous summer.

As the day dragged on, the rain turned into heavy snow, the wind picked up even more and it was howling. The campfire fought vainly against the wind before it was snuffed out. The pair had retreated to a sheltered corner of the cave. Ronja got under Birk's blanket and put hers over both of them. Underneath the blankets, they held their hands.

"It's a cold summer we're having, brother" she said to Birk, mimicking what he used to say a year ago. They giggled some before they tried to get some sleep.

* * *

The next day dawned bright and very cold. Some clouds lingered but with sun mostly out, the landscape was nearly all white, the only color was a bearded man riding his horse He had left the fort early because of the storm and his concern for his daughter's well beings.

When he reached where the cave should be, the only sign of anyone being in the area was the wooden campfire tripod still sticking up above the snow. Everything else had been covered including the mouth of the cave.

"Ronja!" he yelled as he hopped off the horse and started digging through the snow. He finally broke through the snow wall and into the darkness of the cave. "Ronja, can you answer?"

"It's hard to sleep when you sound like an enraged harpy" a yawn followed the remark.

Mattis sighed "Oh it's you, snake-spawn." It was hard for Birk to tell if that was a sigh of relief or of disappointment that he didn't freeze to death in the freak snow storm.

"Your little wild harpy is still sleeping beside me."

There was another yawn, then the sweetest voice Mattis has ever heard "Is that you, Father?"

He picked up the wooden tripod and started kicking the snow out of the campfire pit. "Yes it is I, Ronja!" Birk saw what Mattis was doing with the fire pit and gathered some twigs they stored inside earlier.

"Did you bring bread as you promised?" she asked him. She and Birk both stepped through the opening, wrapped in their blankets and shielding their eyes from the bright sun.

Mattis groaned and covered his face. "I forgot... When I saw the snow, I had to come and check on you. I promise next time I will bring double even if I have to rob Lovis." They all giggled at once, they knew very well Lovis wouldn't mind 'losing' a few loaves of bread if they are for the children.

Birk dumped the twigs in the cleared fire pit and worked to get the fire started. Mattis grabbed Ronja in a hug. "We just parted a few days ago and you are acting like you haven't seen me in ages!" she complained when she was able to breathe once again.

Once the fire got going, the all huddled around and enjoyed it.


	3. The Dream

**Dreams**

Another morning dawned and for Birk, it was another wonderful day. After the late snow melted away, milder weather returned much to the pair's delight. Morning still comes in cool but the flowers have started blooming everywhere. Ronja found a few early editable mushroom and Birk, true to his word, bagged a rabbit for the meal. His culinary skill now consists of smoked fish and smoked rabbit meat.

Ronja made some bread loaves, not quite as good as Lovis' but passable, and occasionally soup with leftover meat and mushroom she found. Mostly she just tags along with Birk and both just play around in the woods, watching animal and exploring yet another part of Mattis Wood. They have more or less settled into routine life away from the robber's keep.

Birk noticed as he stepped around to add wood to the smoldering campfire a bag, a bucket, and a bowl of eggs. Someone from the fort had come and dropped off food and apparently didn't wait for either of the kids to wake up. The bag contained a few loaves of fresh bread and the bucket has some milk. Birk took a cupful of the milk and drank it up.

Over to where Birk left the water bucket the day before, he scooped a handful of water from the bucket and splashed them on his face then shook his head. No sooner than he was done shaking the excess water off that a certain annoying white butterfly landed on his nose. He glared at the butterfly cross-eyed.

It had been a few weeks since the butterfly made itself known on Birk's toe and for almost every morning that wasn't too cold, it came back to annoy Birk. Birk swore to Ronja one day the butterfly must be watching him like how Mattis would watch him to ensure he didn't make her sad.

The annoying butterfly even earned the name Mattis. It only shows up if he's up before Ronja and has never landed on Ronja or once bothered her. "Good morning, Brother"

Birk turned to see Ronja stepping out of the cave, pointed to his nose and said "Mattis is back again"

She took one look at his crossed eyes and his frown, and burst out laughing. Birk tried to catch the butterfly but it flew away quickly. No matter what he did, it just didn't want to be caught. "One of these day, I will catch Mattis and send it to hell's chasm!"

He and Ronja sat on a rock near the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley. She handed him a slice of the bread, and she had some milk. They enjoyed their meal in peace.

In the few weeks they were together, they've had issues with gray dwarfs sneaking into their cave, and they ran into wild harpy only once. Birk had a good idea of building a simple wooden wall out of small logs to cover the cave's mouth, both to keep the pests out and to keep warmth in during cool mornings. Thankfully the harpies still haven't figured out where the cave is so the pair were safe.

"I had an idea" she told to Birk. "I just realized we have never left Mattis' Wood, and I was thinking maybe we could go on a few days trek beyond this area to see what other part of the world we have yet to see."

With his mouth full, he yelled (well, somewhat incoherently) "Great idea!" He swallowed the last bit of the food and added "Let's wait until after the second full moon, when nights are warmer so we don't get cold while sleeping outside."

She nodded and finished the last piece of her breakfast. "So what do we want to do today?"

Birk already had an idea, he jumped on his hapless sister and started tickling her. "This, my sister!"

She shrieked and yelled "Not fair!" She did have one advantage over Birk, she was still wearing her night slip while Birk was still topless and thus more exposed to her counter-tickle.

The brief yet fierce tickle fight ended with Birk surrendering and both just laid on the ground, panting hard from nearly nonstop laughter. "How about we just see if there's young fox pups up and playing around in their den?" he suggested.

* * *

It was raining very hard outside when Ronja woke up a bit groggy but with a foreboding sense of something wrong.

She yawned and called out "Birk?"

No answer. She looked to her side and noticed Birk's bed was nowhere to be seen. Only Ronja had the bed and it was sized just for her. The cave also had very little, a bag of food and bucket for water but nothing else. There should have been lots more food and some equipment like Birk's gears and extra firewood.

The cave simply looked empty and somewhat uninviting.

She stepped outside and just realized the cave mouth was missing the wooden wall she and Birk helped make just weeks earlier. "Birk?" she called again.

Still no answer. "This is not funny! Show yourself!"

As time dragged on, she was starting to feel more uneasy that something is wrong. She started for Mattis' Fort in the rain. Her feet was splashing the water everywhere while occasionally making squishing noise when she stepped on moss or mud.

Oddly despite the heavy rain, she wasn't getting wet at all. Her fear grew even more and after some time, she finally reached Wolf's Neck. No one was to be seen anywhere even though normally there should be a couple watching the passage for unwanted visitors.

She ran faster than ever and finally reached the main gate of the fort. The gate were wide open like it was busted ages ago. No one were to be seen either.

She barged into the Great Hall. Instead of the crowd of men or Mattis sitting around while Lovis cooked food, the hall was cold, barren, and empty. The dust and cobweb everywhere hinted nothing had been around for many years.

"Birk!? Mother? Father?" she hollered some more. "Anyone at all?"

The only thing stirring was a rat.

She stormed up the stairs to the roof and ran across it only to stop short of where Hell's Gap should have been. The roof was whole, the fort was intact as if that storm never happened.

Ignoring the oddity, she reached the other side of the fort where Borkas men would have been. But like the Great Hall, the other side were empty and barren and filled with nothing but cobwebs.

Ronja started to cry and ran out "BIRK! WHERE ARE YOU?"

She was experiencing something that made her even more scared. The hollow feeling of loneliness. Of not having anyone around at all. It was an awful and painful sensation she hadn't felt that way since when Mattis captured and beat up Birk long ago. No, it was much worse than back then. She collapsed into heap and cried even more. "BIRK!"

* * *

Birk himself was also having unpleasant dream. Not quite as bad as Ronja but it still scared him enough that he woke up with a gasp. That's when he heard her cry out. He rolled over onto his knee, and picked her up against his chest "Ronja, wake up!"

She woke up quickly and it took her a moment to realize Birk was holding her. She grabbed him into a tight, bone-crushing embrace and cried a bit. "Bad dream?" She could only nod.

After some minutes had passed, she stopped shaking and sniffling but she still didn't let him go. "Can you sing the Song of the Wolf?" He hoped it'd help her calm some more and be able to get back to sleep.

* * *

It was the most wonderful feeling Ronja was experiencing. For a while, she didn't dare to open her eyes to find Birk went missing again like her dream but when she finally did, a pair of bright blue eyes were staring back. "Good morning, sister!"

She was still in his embrace. Sometime during the night, she had fallen asleep while still clutching to Birk and he didn't let her go at all for the rest of the night. And for her, it was a very wonderful and pleasant feeling. "Good morning, brother!" she exclaimed and untangled herself from Birk. "You been awake for a while?"

"Yeah, probably an hour or so. I didn't want to disturb you after experiencing that bad dream of yours." He got up to his feet, grabbed a piece of bread along with his tunic and pants, then put his clothes on while holding the bread in his mouth. Stepping outside, he helped himself to some water before he sat on the ground to enjoy the bread.

Ronja changed from her night slip to her day clothes and joined Birk outside. She wrapped her arms around Birk's neck "Thank you for staying with me during the night!"

"Anything for you, sister!" he said with a big smile.

"So brother, what do you want to do this morning?"

"The same thing we do every morning, sister. Refill the water bucket, check the stream for fish, check for mushroom and berries."

She signed "But that's boring! Can't we do something different?"

"Well... we could check for berries first, then mushroom. After that, check the stream for the fish and finally fill the water bucket." He earned a slap on his head, which caused him to break out laughing. When he saw his sister's pouting face, he laughed even harder.

Eventually Ronja joined him in laughter, she did ask for it after all. "Seriously, I was thinking of going swimming after we're done with the boring morning stuff."

TBC...


End file.
